INTERACT FORUM

Devices => Video Cards, Monitors, Televisions, and Projectors => Topic started by: Mr ChriZ on June 27, 2013, 03:44:55 pm

Title: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: Mr ChriZ on June 27, 2013, 03:44:55 pm
I was recently kindly donated a B&O Beovision 5 television.
It's a hefty beast but does deliver surprisingly good picture and considering it's not HD, and the audios pretty good too.
It's definitely a talking point when anyone visits - sitting on a motorized stand taking up way to much of my sitting room.

However the TV only has SCART input which is fine for the DVD player that came with it, but not so good for getting a laptop hooked up with Media Center.

Last week i purchased one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/electronics/dp/B007WRPJX2

Which looked like it was going to be just the ticket...
However in reality the picture quality that comes out of it is not good.  After much fiddling I got the Theater View up on screen and that looked fine - plenty of detail.
However when watching movies it's a bit grainy but worse there's big 'tearing' issues every-time the scene changes to quickly.
I'm sure there's still people out there still running projectors with composite inputs and the likes...
Any recommendations on the best way to drive them with a modern computer?

I also have one of these little media boxes you can plug hard drives in and they are ok and happily output to the TV on composites, but the processors in them never quite seem up to playing higher res files and don't feel so nice to use as MC.

[Edit]
Maybe I should try one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/ViewHD-Universal-Composite-Converter-Standard/dp/B0080KN18K/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Seems to have more reviews and no mentions of the issues I've found in the reviews...
Title: Re: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: 6233638 on June 27, 2013, 04:20:41 pm
Unfortunately, you might be in for some trouble with it using SCART.
Old video cards  used to have analog outputs which supported composite, s-video, and occasionally component output, but never RGB SCART.

It's important that you get an RGB output, because s-video, composite, and SD component video look terrible.
You may have to use an intermediate HDMI to VGA, then VGA to RGB SCART adapter. (I can recommend the HDfury for HDMI to VGA)

EDIT: I see that J.S. Tech, who I have used for their high quality converters in the past, are selling that same box.
That suggests to me that it should be capable of doing the job - your screen tearing may be caused by incorrect video timings (check your refresh rates) or player settings.
Title: Re: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: Mr ChriZ on June 28, 2013, 03:46:45 pm
Thanks.  My machine only offered me two refresh rates 60hz and 59hz.
I've played around with a few settings in MC... but so far no major differences.  I'll keep playing.
Title: Re: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: jmone on June 29, 2013, 04:50:50 pm
FYI - SCART can be used to carry Composite, Component, S_Video or RGB + Audio - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCART - and many times you get to select what format to use in the devices config screen.

Do you have an AV Receiver that takes HDMI and allows downconvert to Analog?
Title: Re: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: Mr ChriZ on June 30, 2013, 10:00:55 am
At present I don't have any AV Receivers.  Is this a common feature they have?
Thanks
Title: Re: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: 6233638 on June 30, 2013, 01:57:59 pm
I doubt there are any with RGB SCART out.
Title: Re: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: jmone on June 30, 2013, 04:18:31 pm
Ahh had a re-read.  Your issue with "Quality" is that the converter you got only does Composite.  You can get HDMI to Component boxes like this but I don't know what your TV will accept (and you can also get a Component --> SCART cable).  The other downside is that I don't know how these converters get around HDCP.
Title: Re: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: Mr ChriZ on July 01, 2013, 05:28:40 am
Ahh had a re-read.  Your issue with "Quality" is that the converter you got only does Composite.  You can get HDMI to Component boxes like this but I don't know what your TV will accept (and you can also get a Component --> SCART cable).  The other downside is that I don't know how these converters get around HDCP.

The box I've got for HDMI converts from HDMI to Scart:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/electronics/dp/B007WRPJX2

The TV accepts scart and only scart however I do have one of these composite converters which converts composite to scart:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/RCA-SCART-Adapter-Composite-PlayStation/dp/B0035XB4Z4/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1372674550&sr=1-7&keywords=component+to+scart+converter

I use this with the little media box I've got and that works fine and the qualities fine.

I've also been wondering about the HDCP issues I've not seen any so far.  Maybe I would only see issues like that with a blue ray drive?
Title: Re: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: jmone on July 01, 2013, 05:38:16 am
Sure, keep in mind that SCART is a plug that can carry Composite, S-Video, and Component (in order of quality).  It is worth seeing what video format the TV supports over SCART and then get the appropriate adapter.
Title: Re: Getting HDMI into an old telly...
Post by: 6233638 on July 01, 2013, 03:15:46 pm
Sure, keep in mind that SCART is a plug that can carry Composite, S-Video, and Component (in order of quality).  It is worth seeing what video format the TV supports over SCART and then get the appropriate adapter.
Composite, S-Video and RGB, not component. And few displays have support for S-Video over SCART - usually it's only composite and RGB, and 60Hz often displays in black and white unless you are using an RGB connection.


But I'm glad that Mr ChriZ has found a solution he is happy with.